Finance Ministry considers methods to expand tax base

Taxing profits from cryptocurrency trading and the plan to end the tax waiver on share sales from the local bourse should help to expand the tax base and garner additional revenue for national development, says Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.

Mr Arkhom said Thailand has not expanded the tax base for many years. Though GDP has expanded over the years, revenue from tax has not increased in relation to GDP. This is because the country offers a host of tax exemptions to support specific business sectors, he said.

Now is the time to wind down some tax privileges for those sectors because they can stand on their own, said Mr Arkhom.

He said taxing digital assets and cryptocurrency trading was not aimed at curbing the booming cryptocurrency market.

The financial transaction tax applicable for share sales by individual investors trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand has been on the books for around 30 years, but has always been waived, said Mr Arkhom.

The financial transaction tax is 0.1%. In addition to the transaction tax, investors are subject to a related local tax, which means investors have to pay a total of 0.11% of the share sale.

He said the ministry was considering if the transaction tax should be applied on revenue from share sales per transaction or only on profit.

The Revenue Department is considering a proposal from private parties that cryptocurrency traders should be allowed to deduct losses before calculating withholding tax payment from the remaining profit, said Mr Arkhom.

Earlier the department said the tax applied only to profit per transaction.

He declined to answer whether the department would consider waiving the tax for cryptocurrency investors whose annual income from cryptocurrency trading is less than 200,000 baht.

The department has the authority to collect taxes from cryptocurrency trading as profits from such activity can be considered assessable income under Section 40 of the Royal Decree amending Revenue Code No.19.

Profits earned from cryptocurrency trading, Bitcoin mining and the dividends or interest gained from investment in cryptocurrencies are all subject to a 15% withholding tax.

On Monday Ekniti Nitithanprapas, director-general of the Revenue Department, said a clear criteria for calculating withholding tax on profit from cryptocurrency and digital asset trading is expected to be issued this month.